Alan Gemmell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

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  Would the Prime Minister care to comment on what our adversaries will think when they hear the Leader of the Opposition mistakenly say that we cannot afford our defence commitments? Does such a fatuous response keep our country safe?

• 19 Jun 2025 · UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy · Hansard source

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  Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is very nice to finally be recognised by the Chair. Does the Minister agree that this approach to investment is fundamentally different from the Conservative chaos that led to crumbling schools, hospitals and roads, and light-years away from that of the SNP Government, whose profligate waste of public money has led to a £1 billion ferry fiasco in Ayrshire?

• 12 Jun 2025 · UK-India Free Trade Agreement · Hansard source

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  I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am having some import-export issues myself, as my first book, a provocative and racy thriller, is being published in India in July.

• 12 Jun 2025 · UK-India Free Trade Agreement · Hansard source

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  2. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the UK-India free trade agreement on the economy.

• 12 Jun 2025 · UK-India Free Trade Agreement · Hansard source

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  It is called “30th State”. May I congratulate the Secretary of State and former colleagues on this deal, which is great for whisky distilleries such as Lochlea in my constituency. When I was trade commissioner, Conservative Ministers were clamouring for a trade deal with India. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House how he has managed to do it one year after they failed miserably?

• 11 Jun 2025 · British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme · Hansard source

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  I want to put it on the record that we have seen a transformative intervention by this Labour Government on the mineworkers’ pension scheme, and over 100,000 former mineworkers already received their first pension increase in November last year. I wonder whether the hon. Member might want to congratulate the Government on that innovation.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Lang may yer lum reek, Mr Speaker. The Minister may know that we used to have nuclear power in Ayrshire, creating many well-paying jobs. Does he think we could see small modular reactors at Hunterston, and what does he think of the SNP’s abject failure to bring nuclear to Scotland, even though it has planned for an independent Scotland to rely on English nuclear?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Economic Co-operation: Scotland and Northern Ireland · Hansard source

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  Scotland and Northern Ireland are set to benefit from the Government’s trio of trade deals. Does the Minister agree that it is astonishing that the SNP stands with the Tories and Reform against an EU trade deal that is good for Scotland, and that after almost 20 years in government, the SNP has no plan for Scotland? One in six Scots is on an NHS waiting list; Ayrshire ferries are late and are costing £1 billion; one in six Scots is not in education, employment or training; and the SNP has no plan for the defence of our Union.

• 2 Jun 2025 · Strategic Defence Review · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on this excellent review, and ask whether he will do all he can to use this new focus on British industry to choose AERALIS as the replacement for the Hawk jet, meaning thousands of jobs in the UK; final assembly, production and testing in Prestwick in my constituency; the opportunity for exports; the first British-built jet in 50 years; and our Red Arrows being British and Scottish?

• 20 May 2025 · UK-EU Summit · Hansard source

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  Unlike the SNP’s singular failure wholeheartedly to support our defence sector, this deal is good for Scottish defence firms. Does the Prime Minister agree that Scottish firms gaining access to the €150 billion European defence fund is a huge opportunity for jobs and manufacturers in Scotland and in my constituency of Central Ayrshire?

• 19 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Minister may know that I have spent months convincing British scale-up Aeralis to choose Prestwick as the location at which it will build a proposed Hawk replacement—the first British jet built in 50 years. That would create 4,000 jobs. Will she do all she can to bring Aeralis to Prestwick, and make the Red Arrows British and Scottish?

• 14 May 2025 · Ministerial Code: Compliance · Hansard source

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  At points over the last few years, the most senior SNP leaders in Scotland have been under police investigation, while their Government are failing, with Ayrshire ferries that should have cost £80 million costing half a billion and being years late, one in six Scots being on waiting lists and the shambolic creation of Social Security Scotland costing double at £700 million. With this constant waste of taxpayers’ money, does the Leader of the House agree that the SNP should not be looked to as the model of good government?

• 14 May 2025 · Glass Packaging: Extended Producer Responsibility · Hansard source

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  I want to put on the record my pride in having a glassworks in Irvine in my constituency and in its many workers, including Mr Thomson, who lived next door to me in Auchenharvie Place when I was growing up. The Government must consider the concerns of the sector about the EPR and look at the evidence that has been supplied. And I urge the Minister to adopt the sensible solutions that my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) is suggesting today.

• 13 May 2025 · Mansion House Accord · Hansard source

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  It was a disappointing but unsurprising response from the Conservative Front Bench, and similarly from the SNP, to talk our country down. I congratulate those in the City on this announcement, which will mean new funding for companies across the UK, driving growth. Will the Minister set out what this means for constituents such as mine in Central Ayrshire and across Scotland?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Headingley Incident · Hansard source

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  I express my sympathies and those of the people of Central Ayrshire to the victims of this horrific attack, and those affected by it. I note the presence of the Mayor of West Yorkshire in the Gallery. Does the Minister support the excellent work that the mayor is leading to keep women and girls safe in West Yorkshire? Will the Minister commit to working with mayors, and police and crime commissioners, across the country to tackle the rise of misogyny?

• 28 Apr 2025 · Points of Order · Hansard source

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  On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I seek your advice on how to put on the record my concerns and those of my constituents about worrying allegations in the weekend press about the awarding of contracts by Martin Dowey, the Conservative leader of South Ayrshire council?

• 12 Apr 2025 · Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill · Hansard source

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  rose —

• 12 Apr 2025 · Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that the failure of the Tories and the SNP to develop an industrial strategy for Scotland meant that they had no plan for Grangemouth? They knew for over a decade about the problems at the refinery and did nothing. Does he agree that as soon as Labour came into power, we got to work and delivered support for the site, the workforce and the local community?

• 7 Apr 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  Laurence, Eileen and the residents of St Quivox have been campaigning for 10 years to cut the speed on the B743 in my constituency. At this weekend’s public meeting, 45 people were delighted to hear that Sergeant Slaven of Police Scotland and South Ayrshire council’s director Kevin Braidwood support their campaign to cut the speed on this dangerous road, which has seen almost 30 accidents in the past decade. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Ayrshire Roads Alliance and South Ayrshire council need to urgently reduce the speed limit on this road and work with residents to introduce other traffic calming measures?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Hong Kong Democracy Activists · Hansard source

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  The director general of MI5 has highlighted the increasing risk of state actors operating in the UK. What steps is the Minister taking to support MI5 in protecting the UK from these intrusions?

• 27 Feb 2025 · St David’s Day and Welsh Affairs · Hansard source

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  May I extend the wishes for happiness of the people of Central Ayrshire to Wales on this St David’s Day? As a former trade commissioner, I was delighted in Mumbai to spend time to celebrate the achievements of the people of Wales all around the world. I know that Wales has many friends in India and around the world because of those creative industries.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that today’s announcement on Heathrow sends a serious signal to international investors, trading partners and Scottish exporters—for example, many tens of thousands of tonnes of Scottish salmon go through Heathrow every year—that the Government will choose growth? Does he agree that, unlike the Conservative party and the gloom and doom from the SNP, we will bring growth to the Scottish economy?

• 15 Jan 2025 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  7. What steps his Department is taking to help grow the economy in Northern Ireland.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Does the Secretary of State share my optimism that UK Government funding for all four of Northern Ireland’s city and growth deals, confirmed in the autumn, provides a great basis for all of Northern Ireland to generate growth and opportunity?

• 17 Dec 2024 · Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report · Hansard source

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  As my right hon. Friend has noted, many women will be disappointed by this decision—including women I have met in Central Ayrshire when campaigning, since I have been an MP, and at constituency surgeries as recently as Friday—even though they know that we are cleaning up 14 years of Tory mess, dither and delay and failure. Caring responsibilities often fall on women, and an awful lot of 1950s women have spoken about the financial, emotional and physical pressures that they face in caring for a loved one. Will my right hon. Friend set out how the Government plan to support carers over the coming months and years?